Edna Kiplagat and Priscah Jeptoo Are Both Ready To Battle For New York City Marathon Crown and $600,000
by LetsRun.com
October 31, 2013
New York, NY – On paper, the 2013 ING New York City Marathon women’s race belongs to Kenyans Priscah Jeptoo and Edna Kiplagat, who both have $500,000 extra reasons to get the win as a win will give them the $500,000 World Marathon Majors Title as well (Kiplagat can win the $500,000 also by finishing second as long as Jeptoo doesn’t win).
(More: Read out 2013 ING NYC Women’s Marathon Preview here)
We caught up with both Jeptoo and Kiplagat today on day two of the three pre-race media days. Both claimed to be in good shape, but for the most case kept their cards close to their chest. We learned a few interesting tidbits. Jeptoo plans on keeping the pace somewhat honest if it goes out slow and says she surprised even herself with her 65:45 half marathon in September. Kiplagat has recovered well from winning the World Championship and purposelyhas done less to get ready for New York than she does for other marathons.
Priscah Jeptoo Wins The Great North Run in a Stellar Time
Priscah Jeptoo Is Confident She’ll Run Well on Sunday
Jeptoo said she’s fit, which is no surprise as she ran a sensational 65:45 half-marathon in September, defeating two of the greatest track runners in history, Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba.
“I am confident that I will run good,” said Jeptoo.
When asked specifically how her training since her 65:45 has gone, Jeptoo said simply, “My training was good.”
Jeptoo did admit to being surprised by her 65:45 clocking, “It was a surprise to me. I didn’t know I was going to run 65. I thought I’d run 67 or 66.”
When asked to compare her fitness now to prior to the 2013 Virgin London Marathon which Jeptoo won over Kiplagat in 2:20:15 to Kiplagat’s 2:21:32, Jeptoo didn’t take the bait, “I can say now I’m in good shape and also in London.”
We asked Jeptoo for some specifics about her training and she revealed that she normally runs between 28 and 30 km each day, with her longest run being a full marathon (42 kilometers). She said she’s incorporated more hilly runs into her training to get ready for New York and said “she prepared well on the hilly courses” she used for training in Kenya.
In terms of pace, Jeptoo said that she plans on keeping it honest if things dawdle at the start.
“I will try to set my own pace if it’s slow,” said Jeptoo.
After that, the interview started to get ridiculous as reporters tried to ask her questions like what type of ice cream she liked and Jeptoo struggled to understand what the reporters were asking. A painful full transcript is here but for the record she doesn’t eat ice cream. We bolted and caught up with Kiplagat.
2010 New York Champ Edna Kiplagat Has Recovered Well From Worlds and Is Looking Forward to Running New York For The Second Time
Edna Kiplagat and Priscah Jeptoo prior to the 2013 New York City Marathon
11 weeks ago, Edna Kiplagat became the first woman to successfully defend a World Championship marathon crown as she won in Moscow. The big question obviously was, how did she recover from Moscow and how has her training gone.
“I have recovered well (from Worlds) and am prepared to race well in New York once again after winning the race in 2010,” said Kiplagat. “I believe I have done well in training.”
Kiplagat admitted that post Moscow she’s purposely reduced her training for New York.
“After the World Championships, I took two weeks for recovery and then I had to reduce the training because I knew it was going to be a tactical race (in New York) and I didn’t want to burn out,” said the 34-year old who has a 2:19:50 personal best.
When asked directly if she was pleased with everything, Kiplagat said, “Yes.”
Kiplagat who excels at tactical, championship racing is looking forward to running the challenging New York course for the second time.
“This is one of the best courses I’ve ever run. Though it’s a hard course, it’s one that needs a lot of strategy and lot of mental strength. It’s still very fresh in my mind – the whole course.”
Asked if she prepares differently when running New York, Kiplagat said that was one of the keys to her success.
“We are very careful. We start with the course first (and it’s terrain) and the weather. We work on it in a very tactical way,” said Kiplagat.
When asked if she viewed Priscah Jeptoo as her main rival on Sunday, Kiplagat replied, “I can’t ignore any other athlete that has come here. I know Priscah has a lot of speed but the other athletes are good as well.”
| Edna Kiplagat |
Priscah Jeptoo |
More: Read out 2013 ING NYC Women’s Marathon Preview here
Disclosure: The NYRR is advertising the live coverage of the 2013 ING NYC Marathon on LetsRun.com. This article is not part of any advertising package.